Veela Tales
by Emmylou
Summary: Fleur learns what a Veela really is and has to make a decision about whether she wants to honour her background.


**Veela Tales  
**  
By **Emmylou**  
  
Summary: A nine year old Fleur is told what a Veela is and where they come from. Lots of Veela questions answered and an interesting fairy-tale!  
  
Disclaimer: The characters belong to JK Rowling and so do the Veela concept. The tale is mine!  
  
A/N- I wanted to give a new interpretation into Fleur's life and I also wanted to explain where Veelas come from, so here's the story, please review.

* * *

"What does a Veela do exactly?"  
  
That had been the first question Fleur ever remembered asking. Her mother Solange had paused only momentarily before speaking.  
  
"They charm people my darling, they please others."  
  
At the age of six that had seemed reasonable enough. Her Grandmere hosted fine parties every weekend and all of the French rich people would be there. She was never allowed to attend.  
  
It seemed that as time passed, her mother tried to pull her away from her Grandmere's grasp. Every day, after being taught by Grandmere how to dine elegantly or sing beautifully, she would be summoned out to the pigsty, where she would find her mother working.  
  
They did not need the pigs, her mama kept them solely for pets, but they remained and Solange would work hard everyday swilling out the yard. She was dragged away from the bone china and silk dresses into the mud to help. Even now, years later she shivered with disgust.  
  
That had stopped not long after her ninth birthday. She remembered the day with the heated embarrassment normally felt when you look back on such things.  
  
She had walked down from the large house that she, her mother, and grandmother shared. After a while the gravel became more sparse as she left the areas that the gardeners cared for. Soon the path became a sort of scrubbed brownness that was ugly and dirty. Often she would pretend a stone had been caught in her shoe and waste time taking it off so that she could spend as little time as possible doing the dirty work.  
  
That day she had walked down to the little shed where the pigs lived. They were always locked away by the time she arrived and so all she had to contend with was the simple square of filth that made up the tiny pig yard.  
  
"Go get the hose Fleur," her mother had trilled as she pushed water and mud around the yard.  
  
"Why don't you use your wand," said Fleur insolently. She had stood near the edge of the dirt careful not to let it near her blue velvet shoes or the lace edge of her dress.  
  
"Because I asked you to get it," said Solange firmly.  
  
"Why must you keep these animals mama?" she had wrinkled her nose. "They are filthy. Why be out here with the dirt when you could be inside hosting parties like Grandmere- she says that you let down your Veela heritage by making me do this."  
  
Solange has stopped brushing the yard with the broom and stood. When she looked at Fleur there was real hurt in her eyes.  
  
"Perhaps you should not be so proud of your Veela heritage. You should instead look to your human heritage for guidance. There is little to be proud of in being Veela."  
  
Fleur had laughed out loud at that. How could someone not be proud of being a Veela? Beauty, charm, and elegance were what a Veela was. Everyone loved that in a lady.  
  
"Why ignore something so lovely mama?" she had asked simply.  
  
"Because, as the muggles say, beauty is only skin deep. Judgment should not be made from it as it is so often." Then her mother looked up at her, blond hair tied back in a ribbon, velvet dress with lace and her first pair of high heeled velvet shoes. No one had ever looked more out of place in a pig sty.  
  
"If you no longer wish to help me with the pigs then you do not have to, but I suggest that you ask your Grandmere what a Veela is before you get your Beauxbatons letter. The story she told me at your age was...illuminating." Then she had dismissed her daughter and finished swilling out the pigsty the muggle way.  
  
"Grandmere? What is a Veela? Mama asked me to ask you."  
  
She was sat opposite her Grandmere in the special rocking chair that had been made for her. She would be sent to bed soon but she remained fully dressed in her lovely outfit as was polite.  
  
"Ah, it is not a happy story, but it shaped our lives. I expected that your mama would make me tell you soon. She was never as enamoured with it as most."  
  
Fleur had been shocked to hear that. A story about Veelas could be unhappy? But Veelas were the princesses of society, fairy tales were written about them and men died for them. Their lives were magical and perfect. She had pushed herself onto the edge of her seat eagerly.  
  
"A long time ago, even before Beauxbatons was created, the Bulgarian Wizards were dying out. You see, there had been a great many dragon attacks and many many young girls were offered as sacrifices to the gods. Soon the Wizards found that there were no women left to marry and they were proud men. They would not go to another country to find a wife. So they searched for an answer."  
  
Her Grandmere's voice was dead and dull; there was no infliction or excitement in the words. It sounded as though she were reading a passage from a book that she did not understand. Despite this the story was enough to catch Fleur up and she listened as though it were a master storyteller talking.  
  
"The story goes that the final female child, a beautiful child no older than you are, was eaten by the most terrific dragon in the land. She had been betrothed to marry a young boy of her own age, and he was devastated to loose his bride. So he vowed to kill the Dragon. By the time he was nineteen years old he found it and slayed it."  
  
"That's horrible!" fleur gasped.  
  
"Do not interrupt child," said her Grandmere sternly. She seemed to compose herself "Horrible yes, but when he slashed open the Dragon's stomach, out stepped his bride. Only she was more beautiful that anyone could have imagined. Naturally he made good of his promise to marry her-"  
  
"That's wonderful Grandmere!" She paused. "Sorry, I did not mean to interrupt."  
  
"But it did not end there!" whispered her Grandmother frantically. "You see, whenever the girl became upset or angry, her appearance would turn into that of a hideous dragon hybrid, making her disgusting to look at."  
  
"The man was weak, he did not want his friends to know that he had married a monster, and he learned that the only way to keep her in her beautiful form was to keep her frightened to her very core. So he did the most horrible things, the most vile, disgusting things that a man can do to a woman, things you are too young to know about. She was abused and frightened and she did not object when her first set of children- female sextuplets were sold-"  
  
"Sold?!"  
  
"Yes sold, to the greedy men. The man told them what to do to stop the girls from mutating. And the abuse continued."  
  
"But eventually the girls freed themselves. They became powerful by themselves. And eventually they learned how to keep their appearances beautiful whenever they wanted. They became the powerful creatures we know them as today."  
  
"How do you become a Veela?" asked Fleur.  
  
"You do not become one, you are born one. A Veela and a Veela's children and grandchildren can only give birth to girls. Every fourth child in the line is a Veela. So when you and your sister have daughters-"  
  
"They'll be Veelas!" said Fleur eagerly.  
  
"Correct."  
  
"But, but why is mama ashamed to come from our line?" Fleur asked. Coming from such an amazing story did not seem shameful at all. She couldn't wait to tell her sister about it actually.  
  
"She is ashamed that she is the product of so many men's sins, that so much suffering was allowed. She does not think it is right to be proud of coming from abuse. What do you think?"  
  
"I think that it is a sad story, but it ended well. We must be proud and rise above the past," said Fleur firmly.  
  
"Then one day you shall have a beautiful Veela for a Daughter, and you shall be as proud of her as I am of you. Now, to bed with you."  
  
"Goodnight Grandmere"  
  
**The end**

* * *

Well, what do you think? I was quite worried about the characterisation in this, so your comments would be much appreciated. I know they said the Veela is more bird like, but I like the Dragon thing more. 


End file.
